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Aenan Sarcrus
Aenan Sarcrus was the foreign conqueror of the Kingdom of Eris. It was he who united the various states and petty kingdoms under one rule and ensured a kingship which has lasted for 300 years to present. Background Born to one of two rival families to domination of the Republic of Brynlos, in what is now know as the lands of sarcus, the little-known continent across the sea south-east of Eris, Aenan had a privileged but educational upbringing. His family lost the civil war for dominance, many of them dying. Aenan's army was trapped on a peninsula but had huge naval support. With the cause in Brynlos lost, Aenan set out to carve himself out a new kingdom across the ocean. He had seven thousand men but these were trained in the contemporary brynlon fashion, better than any troops around in Eris even today. Their armour was amazing and their formation meant that few would die if they fought right. His navy was also made up of galleys larger than any at the time with artillery the like of which hadn't been seen before in Eris. Aenan's first campaign however was against the lands of the peaceful barbarians. This was a theocracy where religion was key and men were willing to die for their God. After initial successes, hundreds of thousands of the 'children of the father' gathered, most armed just with basic spears, from across the land. They died in their tens of thousands against Aenan's legion but his men tired and began to lose face. 1,400 men died and many were wounded as they retreated to the sea. He abandoned this campaign and went north. His main fleet, after resting on anchor to heal for a few months, landed in birktown, part of the great empire of Hilte. Campaign in Eris After taking Birtown from its governors, Aenan had taken the key to the whole Birkon peninsula, the south-east of Hilte. Hilte of course sent an army to deal with this foreign invasion. At the Battle of Kentoun, Hilte marched against a defensive Sarcrusian position. The legionnaires had built a small palisade behind which they hid. They were armoured from head to two and armed with two medium spears, a medium sword and a large rectangular ''cila ''shield, which they held together to make impenetrable missile barrier. They were also adept at making small scorpion style artilley and larger ballistae. They rained fire on the Hiltian army, mostly javelin militia infantry, and absorbed the fire they got in return with their shield formation. Then they took the missiles which had bounced off their shields and hurled them back. When the javelineers charged with dagger drawn, reinforced my main line Dihiltian Infantry, they were destroyed by the superior fighters that the sarcrusians were. The only real cause of casualties among the sarcrusians were from the elite Hiltian spear cavalry and even then, barely 80 were killed while hiltian casualties numbered in the thousands. 11,000 troops, all Hilte could muster in that time. Aenan's army numbered 5,600. The lack of sarcrusian cavalry did however stop them from pursuing the fleeing hiltian troops, a huge military disadvantage. The Hiltian empire was one of the largest and most powerful in Eris though, and Aenan did not want to get ahead of himself. He met the empire and negotiated a treaty. He would get a thirty-year lease on the birkon peninsula, in order to establish himself a base for his planned conquest of the Round Kingdom and Kingdom of Querl. No hostilities would ensure from that point onwards. Also, as a minor part of the treaty, Aenan received a copy of an extremely detailed map of Eris from the emperor. Aenan's landing in the Round Kingdom was met entirely with surprise. The round kingdom was allied with the Kingdom of Querl, the Black Kingdom, whose naval might prevented all nearby territories from being able to muster the forces to land on its shores. In return the kingdom supplied querl with food(the island was overcrowded) and wood for shipbuilding. Aenan's fleet was met with a dozen ships of the Black fleet, but they fled when they saw them. The Round capital at Southceil was quickly breached using shipborne artillery and the city taken with little fight. The standing army of the Kingdom was a mere two thousand men and only 700 of them were stationed in Southceil. A thousand citizens were armed with spears but that was it. The city soon fell and the king and royal family was killed 'in the heat of battle by his own soldiers turned rogue'. In fact Aenan was to be unusually ruthless in hunting down the heirs and claimmants to the thrones of his conquered nations. The northern city of Tharwood held out for a short while but fell. The Sarcrusian fleet was met by the Black Fleet at full strength bringing 4,500 legionnaires to conquer Tharwood. In the Battle off Thar Head, Querlian sea power was all but annihilated. Over 80% of its strength was destroyed. The ordinary peasant was shocked by how these few troops could have defeated the great fleet of Querl and the great empire of Hilte and how they were nearly immortal. There seemed little point in resisting them. Querl was invaded and quickly fell. The Black King was also killed 'in the heat of battle'. Aenan began raising local legions of troops and training them as well as manufacturing weapons for them. At the time the Lordship of Summer was embroiled in one of its ongoing and many wars of annihilation with the Grand Duchy of the Thinlands. It seemed like a good time for an attack. Aenan landed on the peninsula which would become known as the Imperial Peninsula and took the towns there. He encountered almost no resistance as word had spread of his exploits. The lord of summer sent out envoys to Aenan to conclude a formal treaty. Aenan made it clear he wouldn't accept any treaty which didn't give him some degree of overlordship to Summerwood. The Lordship was always made to go back under the influence of the Ancient Empire when it 'eventually rose'. The Lord of the time, Aaron Cartus accepted Aenan as his overlord under the conditions of slightly over half of the thinlands being under the control of Summerwood. The Sarcrusian army encountered little resistance, the Summrish army defeated all the troops that the Grand Duke could summon who weren't scared of fighting the sarcrusians or their allies at Lordwatch. Hence the Thinlands and summerlands were won. Quickly, Aenan managed the recruitment of over ten thousand troops who he outfitted in legionnaire style and trained well. These suppressed guerrilla fighting in the thinlands and backed up his main elite army. Along with them and the Karstic Empire. The Empire of Karst stretched from its capital of Karstus to the south on the Great Water all the way north to the Salt sea and westwards to the Feeder and the Wells rivers. It could and had massed powerful phalanx armies of up to thirty thousand men. Aenan's plan was shock and awe, cutting the head off the snake. A force of fifteen thousand men, mostly legionnaire style troops but also some militia cavalry and Summrish cavalry and troops marched north along the Life of the East from Summerwood. The City of Karstus was to the extreme south-east of the Empire but contained the Emperor and all the chivalry of the realm. The Karstic emperor could just about raise twenty thousand men before the Sarcrusian Army approached the Capital. The Karstian army was mostly made up of basic troops armed with 4 metre pikes, roundshields and swords as well as high karstic style wicker helmets though it also contained javelinmen, militia cavalry and Cataphract style elite cavalry. Category:Eris